Though HP Lovecraft has a (mostly unmerited) reputation for being a recluse, he kept in touch with many people through correspondence, and the volume of his letters dwarfs his fiction and amateur press work. Joshi and co-editor David Schulz have drawn from his vast correspondence to create an account of HPL's life in his own words. Excerpts have been organized chronologically and thematically, to provide an account of Lovecraft's life and adventures, as well as his evolving views on science, society, and fiction. As anyone who's familiar with him knows, HPL was quite an interesting figure: a man who embraced science but thought he belonged in the 18th century, who rejected religion but clung to notions of racial difference, and whose fiction could be both bold and reactionary. While this is not the most thorough of biographies, since there are some subjects that the Old Gent was reluctant to put in his correspondence, the opportunity to read about it from his perspective is worth it. ( )